peltier hdd cooling...

[iroc409]

ok, not sure if i'm putting this in the right place, but since it has to do with peltier cooling, i put it here. admin move it if necessary

anyway, just some thoughts. has anyone used a peltier to cool a hard drive? i was pondering this last night, and thought maybe it would be useful.

basically the design would be to make a heat sink the same width/length of the hard drive, with a flat spot in the middle for a peltier. then, put a small (probably 80W or less) peltier on the hard drive, and of course a hs on the peltier. could even watercool it, but it's supposed to be somewhat simple. the fins on the baseplate would also help cooling redundancy, in case the peltier failed. i run my system basically 24/7, so i want some fail-safe in it while i'm away.

would this setup be reasonable, or am i just being silly? the other options of course are just a couple fans, or watercooling, but the watercooling makes the setup i'm working on just a lot more complex than seems necessary.

the other consideration is what side is best for active cooling like this... top or bottom? i would presume this setup would be best on the top, and then maybe even adding the small dual-fan setup on the bottom for some extra kick.

the setup i'm designing right now isn't exatcly going for silence, just efficiency & dependability. i'm used to very noisey computers

i'll work on some pictures for my idea, to shed more light on the subject if this seems like a decent idea.


any ideas would be appreciated. thanks.

BTW: space really isn't a big issue, it's going in a full tower case, and the system will only use 1 hard drive, so if it takes up more than one hdd bay, that would be ok.

[jtroutma]

Everything I have read states that it is NOT a good idea to use a pelt.

Reason has to do with the fact that you are dealing with a mechanical device that is suseptable to thermal stresses on both ends of the spectrum. If you chill a moving device too much, you could cause the metal in the device to constrict (on a microscopic level) and cause extra stress on the moving parts.

Simply put, dont use a pelt

Fans work well and watercooling would work even better. HDDs are not like silicon chips, they dont create a lot of heat really quickly. The heat tends to build up over time to the point where it starts to affect the moving parts. A water cooling device that has a low flow rate should easily be able to keep a HDDs temperature level under control with a very low flow rate.

Thats my advise.

[iroc409]

yeah, i was kinda wondering about that, but thought i'd see what somebody else thought

[pHaestus]

I dunno if you used an even smaller pelt (maybe 20-30W) with a cold plate the size of the hdd I dont see why it wouldnt work. Something with a fairly small delta T so you dont end up with like super cold drives.

[jtroutma]

Now there is a thought that might work. I have a 36W pelt sitting around collecting dust if you are interested in it

[iroc409]

ok, i just wrote this nice reply, and it turns out that my file was too big, so i'll try again. there's a pic attached that's kinda what i'd make the hs like. the raised square fo the pelt would be the same height as the fins. the baseplate would be pretty thin, the only thick part where the peltier would sit. the drawing is a "top view".

yeah, the intent isn't to freeze the hdd, just keep it around ambient or so

how much would you want for that pelt?


thanks for the info all

i'll start working with the hs a little, see what i can come up with. i kinda hate carving out a copper block, but i'll ponder it some more and see what i can come up with. i'm usually pretty good at that

[jtroutma]

Dont supose $20 shipped would be too much to ask?

[iroc409]

nah, that'd be cool. what was it used for/how much was it used?

[jtroutma]

I originaly purchased it to pelt chill my NB with a waterblock. The pelt worked fine but the silcon sealant that I used around the block fried two MB I pull the block and the pelt off and slaped a Blorb on and never looked back.

It has probably been used a total of 3-4 weeks straight and I attached a 4 pin molex connector to it.

PM me if you are interested with your shipping address.